Across the Cosmos - A Starcraft Story
by Writing1sLife
Summary: A tale of the two most human characters in the StarCraft universe. Told from the perspective of the Jim Raynor after the fall of Amon as he ponders what the future holds for him.


Across the Cosmos - A StarCraft story

He sat there alone; alone and somewhat lost. He was staring down at a badge. He had been doing this an untold number of days, weeks, maybe even months. Enter the bar, take a seat, pull out the badge, place it on the table, and simply stare at it. Stare at it, and remember, or rather reflect. His face was worn with lines and scars that testified to the life he had lived, the battles fought, won and lost, the hardness of the years. His hair was longer and unkempt compared to the beginning, and now it sported wisps and streaks of gray from old age and all he had seen. His muscles were hardened and thickened from years of demanding action straining the white shirt he wore and filling out the black combat pants that he was never without. If one thing ever truly held you in silence when you looked at him, it was his eyes. Those eyes, they held a depth to them. Deep, deep emotion swirled inside their depths. Time had been so many things to him; friend, and foe. Right now, all that he felt about time was that it stood still for him or rather that he had too much of it and lacked any idea of what to do with it. Behind him on the billboard were trophies, memoirs, pictures; all part of the storied past of the man known as James, or rather Jim Raynor. This is a story of love, of pain, of humanity, and the bonds that bind us so very deeply.

James Raynor was a Terran. That is the name given unto humans in the Kropulu Sector of space. Long ago, a failed mining expedition had brought humanity into that sector of space. James Raynor was an individual born into this space sector who eventually became a colonial marshal fighting to protect the innocent from an alien menace called the Zerg. The government, called the Confederacy, proceeded to begin abandoning worlds to the threat rather than defend them. Raynor was defiant in the face his orders due to his sense of responsibility, and for that he was imprisoned. There were those of like mind who freed him and requested his aid in tearing down the corrupt government in order to protect the people. The ones who saved him were the radicals or fascists known as the Sons of Korhal and their inspiring leader Arcturus Mengsk. In the midst of their revolution James Raynor would meet the one person who would forever alter his life: Sarah Kerrigan.

To look it at them when they first met, you would not possibly have been able to label them as capable of being attracted to each other, much less falling in love, and yet that is precisely what happened. They shared certain things in common; perhaps that is what drove them into each other's arms and brought them so intimately together. He was a victim of a government that was too weak to defend its citizens when they looked to and needed its strength; she was a victim of countless individuals seeking to exploit her from the beginning of her life for her immense potential. He wanted to do the right thing as did she. Yet the dividing point for them was the man they followed. His radical actions left them both disturbed, yet Kerrigan possessed greater loyalty to him than Jim did. The final straw came when another faction in the war for the sector entered the picture: the spiritual and psionically gifted race known as the Protoss. The Protoss were engaged in war against the Zerg to prevent their spread across worlds with limited success making no distinction between the Terrans and the Zerg when they "cleansed" worlds of the infection. Arcturus secretly sought to manipulate both ends for his own personal gain but none knew of that at the time. Kerrigan acted on his orders, but was abandoned to die on a world at the hands of the Zerg. Raynor swore vengeance for this and became a personal thorn in the side of the dictator or "Emperor" as he was now known.

With a ragtag group of like-minded individuals dubbed "Raynor's Raiders", they set out to dismantle the Dominion that had taken place of the Confederacy. For Jim, it was personal, as he had literally helped place the man on the throne he now claimed and held without mercy. In the midst of all this, Jim heard telepathic cries for help when he slept and when he was awake. The source originated from a world known as Char. Volcanic and inhospitable to human life without protective gear, many would call it a literal image that brought you as close to Hell itself as you could ever get. Jim and his team came to investigate and found a chrysalis being guarded heavily by the Zerg. When it suddenly burst open, Jim's life was introduced to a nightmare that would haunt him and many others: Sarah Kerrigan reborn as the Queen of Blades.

A servant of the Zerg now, Kerrigan had not been killed due to the immense power she possessed but rather remade to suit their needs and proceeded to lay waste to all in her path. With skeletal extensions from her back resembling bony wings, her hair a mass of tendrils like the snakes that formed the hair of Medusa, nude save for an exoskeleton that served as personal body armor and made her truly terrifying with retractable claws from her hands, Kerrigan would go on to have a terrifying presence in Jim's life, sparing him only due to some small lingering remnant of humanity or perhaps because she once loved him.

The two were brought together when an independent faction of humans, the United Earth Directorate, or UED, came to conquer the Kropulu Sector and proved exceedingly efficient at it. Part of Jim had reservations about saving the life of Arcturus, but he did so because they all knew the war needed to have its tide turned against the invaders. Kerrigan had lost control of the Zerg, the Protoss were in disarray after being forced to abandon their home world and purge their sister world of invasion from the Zerg, and the Dominion had been systematically dismantled. Somewhere inside, Jim wanted to believe that Kerrigan had actually managed to change thanks to the death of the Overmind who originally lead the Zerg. After reclaiming the throne world, Kerrigan proved truly evil as she promptly unleashed her hordes against the tired Terran/Protoss forces and killed two prominent individuals on both sides in order to weaken them. He could never forget the exchange between them when he had witnessed the death of a Protoss commander he called a friend.

" _What are you worried about Jim? He died the way all Protoss long too – in combat."_

" _He died because_ you _betrayed him! How many more noble souls do you need to consume before you're satisfied!? How many more must die before you realize what you've become?!"_

" _You don't even know what you're talking about Jim."_

" _Don't I!? So help me I will see you_ dead _for this Kerrigan! For Fenix! And all of those who got between you and your mad quest for power."_

" _Tough talk Jimmy but I don't actually believe that you have what it takes to be a killer."_

" _It may not be with an army at my back darlin', it may not even be tomorrow, but rest assured, I'm the man whose going to take you_ down _some day! I'll be seein' you."_

With that he had bitterly vanished from the war. The Zerg, under Kerrigan's terrifying influence, swept aside the would-be conquerors from earth and beat back a combined armada from all three sides. "The Brood War" came to a bloody close with Arcturus Mengsk forced back to the throne world of Korhal to lick his wounds like some vanquished dragon of legend, the Protoss forced to begin unearthing ancient weapons of a dark time in their history, and Kerrigan standing like a god amongst the ruin and chaos poised to obliterate all she saw. Jim made a failed attempt on her life but was forced to retreat. He never stopped loving her ironically. Four years later found him to be a heavy drinker to cope with the pain and misery of time. His campaign to destroy Arcturus was not going as hoped, those who once believed in him had begun to have doubts, and all that time he clung to a photo of the one woman he had ever loved. Every time he thought of the future, _every_ time, he only pictured her.

Her red hair in a neat ponytail flowing in the breeze, her dazzling green eyes sweeping keenly over the land, and her lithe, sinewy figure which concealed the beautiful heart and soul within her. He wanted to hate her, but how do you hate someone so deeply that you forget that you ever loved and embraced intimately until the passion and heat drove you deeper together than you would have ever dared to believe you could go? She was a complicated presence in his life. To look at her now all one could see was a monster. A dangerous and manipulative presence in the sector, she proved not only a threat as a capable leader, but also stood as a terrifying figure on the battlefield for she would march at the head of her own army cutting down her enemies with physical power and the psionic fury that was hers to call upon.

After four years, suddenly everything began to stir with new intensity and life. The news broadcasts revealed the Zerg were sweeping across worlds with new fury and Kerrigan was confirmed to indeed be on the scene of many of them. Arcturus was rallying his propaganda and fleets to defend his throne abandoning many of the outer worlds to their fate in the process. The Protoss were quietly building their power and dissolving the ways of old as they prepared to reclaim their home world of Auir. In the midst of this, the almost-forgotten figure of the dark prelate Zeratul appeared before James with a warning concerning the future. Enigmatic and dark as ever, he nevertheless was an unexpected sight after four years, as was the message he brought: _"You will hold her life in your hands, and though justice demands that she pay with her life for her crimes, she must live."_

A crystal with memories from the dark prelate was given to Raynor containing a frightening vision of a future that ended in darkness and the obliteration of the universe at the hands of a Xelnaga, a god-like being the Protoss worshipped. This "Fallen One" had been manipulating and maneuvering events in the Kropulu sector throughout the Brood War and before humanity had even ventured into this part of space. The ultimate piece of the prophetic visions stated that if Kerrigan died, then everything would be destroyed by the false god.

Raynor had recently acquired objects that merged together into an artifact of enormous power. The son of Arcturus, Valerian Mengsk, presented Raynor with an offer he found difficult to refuse: if they worked together, they could return Sarah to her humanity, stopping the Zerg at the same time, and place a new emperor on the throne, one who had no desire to be a dictator. The stage was set upon the hellish world where everything had begun: Char. The Queen of Blades personally assaulted the Terran forces ruthlessly alongside her own minions as they sought to hold the Zerg at bay long enough for the artifact to gather the necessary power. In a blast of blinding light and unfathomable energy, the artifact released its power and laid waste to vast numbers of Zerg and Kerrigan as well. When the smoke cleared, she was discovered to be weak but alive, her humanity almost restored save for her hair retaining its altered appearance. Then a mole planted in the midst of the Terran forces, a former friend of Raynor with a death threat over his head, attempted to kill Kerrigan. Jim did not hesitate. For the sake of the woman he loved, he killed his former friend Tychus Findlay.

Jim looked to the future with hope for the first time in so many years. But Kerrigan's changed mindset and haunted outlook, proved challenging. She also now possessed a rather vengeful attitude towards the man who had sought her life and betrayed her without a second's thought. There was an enormous barrier between them. He wanted to help her but how do you help someone so wounded, so haunted, so burdened by terrible memories that she could hardly stand living at times? It was difficult but he was not going to surrender again or give up. They would _not_ be separated again. And yet some things will never be let go; some people just cannot be reasoned with nor will they ever stop. Arcturus Mengsk, seeking both their deaths, promptly sent forces out on a relentless search to take Kerrigan's life and kill anyone with or around her no matter who they were. Not even his own son was safe. In their effort to escape the attack upon the facility, the two became separated. Jim wound up in a confrontation with a prominent assassin in the dominion ranks and was captured.

Trapped aboard a prison ship, all he could do was wait and wonder what was happening out in the universe. What was happening with Sarah? She would come to his rescue, he believed that; yet knowing the enemy it would be anything but a simple task to accomplish. Rescue did come…and it brought horror with it. The first indication was the sound of gunfire and screams outside the lightless room. Then the door was blown open with a powerful blast bringing smoke and light flooding in. His ears rang from the concussive force of the blast and his vision cycled between multiple images and lack of focus.

A figure stepped into the room; a familiar figure. He would recognize it anywhere, anytime.

"Sarah?" His voice filled with hope and relief. Then those _things_ stretched forth from behind her as his vision sharpened and his ears stopped ringing. It was the Queen of Blades who stood before him in all of her terror and glory, not the woman he loved. "No," he whispered in pain and heartbreak.

"I had to get you out," stated the violet-eyed woman. Her voice sounded pained.

"What have you _done_?" He slowly rose to his feet, his stance guarded, pistol aimed at the floor, yet ready all the same. Too many times had she taken him off-guard. This creature before him was not the one he had risked everything for and this was not what was meant to be.

Sarah actually lowered her gaze so that she was staring at Jim's boots rather than his face. "What I…had to." Her voice was low and hushed with what sounded like guilt.

His anger surged upward and he did not hesitate to let it out. "Tell that to _Fenix_. Tell it to the millions that you butchered!" The very idea that…

She simply looked sadly at the ground and instead took his weapon hand slowly in her left. "You once swore that you would _kill_ the Queen of Blades." Jim's eyes widened along with his shocked expression. She remembered that? She was not speaking with a voice that was angry but rather weary and sad. She actually felt guilty. Was this the same Sarah he had known and despised in this form?

Gently, she guided his hand upward. "You were the only one who...who ever believed in me." She aligned the muzzle so it was straight between the eyes, against her forehead. "Do you _still_ believe in me?" she asked him softly staring at him with those violet/indigo eyes of hers. What was she…? She was leaving the decision...in his hands.

His eyes closed in pain and anger. Stuck at the crossroads; he loved her, he hated her. _I'll see you dead for this…_ His finger curled slightly on the trigger.

 _Dammit!_ His eyes snapped open. BLAM! BLAM! BLAM, BLAM, BLAM! BLAM! Click! Click! A pause… Click!

Sarah opened her eyes. Six holes in the wall behind her…not one bullet gone through her. Jim had aimed past her. Breathing heavily, he lowered the smoking, now-useless weapon. "I love you Jim," she said softly. "Never forget it."

He stared her right in the eyes. "We're _done._ " Then he walked out of the cell.

After that he simply sat on board the crown prince's ship in a dark mood. He did not talk to anyone or do much. He simply thought dark thoughts and pondered everything that had changed. Then the call came. Kerrigan had been preparing, ever since Arcturus had falsely proclaimed the "death" of Jim, to assault the throne world and end the dictator's life. Valerian, finally come to the sad conclusion that his father was irredeemable, agreed to not stand in Kerrigan's way, but had one condition: that she take every step she could to not endanger the civilians. Kerrigan initially protested the burden, but chose to grant his request admitting that he was a much better man than she once believed him to be. And then all eyes had turned to Jim after the conversation. They were going to leave a judgement call to him, the one person who had more history with her than anyone else. What was he to do? _I know only that she must live. The answers you seek, lie within. I leave this so that you may see; and_ believe _._ Zeratul's parting words. _Though justice demands that she pay for her crimes…_

 _Friend Raynor, I have pierced the veil of creation and beheld only…oblivion; yet one spark of hope remains._

The hated voice of the dictator declaring his true nature: _I will rule this sector, or I will see it burn to ashes around me. You even_ think _to cross me…_

His decision was made. He promptly sent his ship, the Hyperion, to join the battle. He had sworn to see the dictator removed from his throne. This was about doing the important thing which was protecting the future. If Arcturus was not removed from the picture, there would not be much of a future to protect or look forward to. The Emperor had unwittingly been serving the fallen god's agenda and his servant. He would never believe for an instance that he could lose and would sooner die than ever surrender his throne ever again. After the fleet from Earth had succeeded in overcoming him, he had sworn to never again be taken by surprise or outdone ever again.

The battle on Korhal was one to perhaps surpass anything seen on that world before. Ammunition and bodies littering the streets; the ground and sky swarming with motion as a stalwart army of human forces sought to hold back the Swarm. Despite their best attempts, the Swarm beat back the counter attacks and pushed relentlessly towards the palace with Jim supporting in every way he could. Together, he and Kerrigan broke through all obstacles. His presence there was the one thing that changed everything. Kerrigan could not have succeeded in ending the dictator's life any other way. If he had not been there, she might have died, for Mengsk had secretly stolen the artifact and weaponized it in order to kill her when she attacked him. Amidst the dust and ashes of their victory, the two said goodbye and each steeled themselves for what was to come. Raynor took the time to kneel and run his hands through the ashes or whatever it was that was left of the former Emperor. "Why, you old fool? It was never worth it." If there was one thing to regret from all that had recently occurred, it was that the universe would be a little bit poorer thanks to the absence of Arcturus' ability to rally and inspire.

From there, Jim began the arduous task of aiding the new emperor in preparing for the Fallen One's army. It proved to be more horrifying than what had been seen in Zeratul's vision. The Fallen One, Amon by name, had indeed been preparing for countless centuries of human existence to plunge all of creation into darkness and make it into his own image. Terran, Zerg, Hybrids, all part of Amon's army, mercilessly devastated Korhal. The artifact itself was used against the Terran army to devastating effect until the Protoss, those that Amon had not cleverly converted to his side, intervened and utilized it for its true purpose: sending the false god back into the void from whence he had come.

Two years passed in quiet and harmony as worlds were rebuilt and wounds healed. The Protoss were now a unified and free people on their liberated homeworld, the Zerg had settled once more contentedly upon Char, and the New Dominion under Valerian had grown strong. Then a telepathic message reached all the Terran and Protoss forces from Kerrigan containing a sense of urgency. It was revealed that Amon stilled lived on in the void and Kerrigan intended to journey into the place where he could be found. Jim joined her in this endeavor and all three armies combined into one, journeyed into the Void. In the Void, they encountered another Xelnaga, and this one came with an offer: while he was imprisoned and unable to aid them in the Void, he could give his very power, his very life, unto Kerrigan and uplift her to a higher form than she had ever been before. She accepted against Jim's protests stating that she needed to make amends. He was against it only because she would be taken from him completely if she did this. The distance between them would grow so great that he feared she would leave his life entirely.

The change took place and Kerrigan was reborn in a way that was nothing like her return to the Queen of Blades. Where once she was terrifying and exuded power through menacing attributes, she now radiated warmth and life like a sun; essentially for all intents and beliefs she resembled an angel with glorious wings and eyes that burned with the light of the stars themselves, her hair a burning halo of flames that were the most beautiful golden orange Jim had ever witnessed. When she stared at him, Jim felt a deep sense of fear and pain seize him. She was right in front of him and yet so far away now with this transformation. His mind swirled, as did his heart and soul, with so much emotion all he could do was stand there.

Suddenly his mind flashed back to their first parting: that day that dawned after they had spent a night together with nothing concealed and their hearts and minds as one.

" _These moments together," Sarah said softly, her red hair in a neat ponytail, her Ghost uniform white and pristine, placing a hand on Jim's shoulder, "they will always be with me." She gently kissed him full and tenderly and then embraced him, her head resting on his chest for he was taller than her. Perhaps she heard the sound of his heart as he too held her._

" _Sarah…I…" So much emotion; how to let it out when it catches inside you?_

" _We need to go Jim," she whispered. "They're waiting for us."_

In the present again, he quietly made his peace with the choice he had constantly fought against. If he truly loved her, then he would let her go to do whatever it was that she must.

"End this darlin'," he said. "Once, and for all." With his consent she departed to fulfill her new calling as a true savior. The battle of the Void reached a climax of unbelievable proportions. The dark god fought back with his legions and might gained from twisting the Void into his own false image, Kerrigan fought back with her own new-found power and strength alongside Jim, the Protoss, and the Zerg. Then the moment came where the two individuals of incredible might, dark and light, clashed. Kerrigan proved triumphant but suddenly the light from her assault upon Amon grew overwhelming. Somewhere in the whiteness he heard a whisper. _"Jim…go…"_

The next thing he knew, he was back home. Somehow Kerrigan had sent them back to their side of the universe. Time passed but Jim did little. The new Dominion had little really for him, so he traveled to the new Aiur and observed all that was there. From there he simply returned to the bar in Mar Sara where destiny had found him several years back.

" _Are you sure I cannot convince you to stay? Your name has been cleared and I am positive that I can have use for a man like you. However, in light of much of your…history, or rather all that has happened, I leave the decision up to you."_

" _Valerian, I have been so many things: Marshal, prisoner, revolutionary, rebel, soldier; but in all of this the one thing I was not permitted to be was James Raynor. I need to figure out what the future holds for him."_

" _Then I give you my permission to leave. Go and may you find whatever it is you seek. May blessings and good life find you."_

Thus, it was that he was in the bar at Mar Sara simply staring at the badge on the wood in front of him.

" _Hearts and minds man. That's what our revolution is all about." Matthew Horner._

" _Take a good long look Matt," he had replied, "because someday you will be leading this little band of misfits."_

" _I made a deal with the devil Jimmy…" Tychus Findlay. His former friend; all that he ever wanted was to rule his own life, be what he pleased, but had wound up a prisoner of many things._

" _You will hold her life in your hands…" Zeratul. He had been right about all of it; in way's Jim had never imagined._

What did the future hold for him? Where should he go? What should he do? Every time that he had thought of a future independent of any governments, Zerg, or warring factions, of threats to life and limb, he had pictured it with Sarah in it. But she was gone now. He loved her and so he had regretfully swallowed his selfish ideas and desires and let her go; regretful only because he did want to let her go.

The door opened. A fresh wind, soft and gentle came with it. Light spilled into the room. He turned squinting slightly for the sudden brightness. "You about ready to get out of here cowboy?"

"Heck," he smiled, sliding the badge away and leaving it on the table, "It's about time." His whole being flooded with peace and serenity, he walked forward out into the sun and never looked back. Jim Raynor vanished from all knowledge at this moment.

Why leave it all behind? The same reason a god-like being could abandon her power and return to her humanity: to be with the one they loved and who showed them what being human really was.

Neither of them was ever seen again. Wherever they were, doubtlessly they went together, heart, mind, body, and soul.


End file.
